In Darkest Night 2: Premonitions
by 1upDawg
Summary: Business at the new-and-improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is running smoothly… but it's animatronic characters aren't. When Jeremy takes the job of the restaurant's new repairman, he and the other Lyoko warriors get more than they bargained for. Surely this is X.A.N.A.'s work… right? (A Code Lyoko/FNAF crossover and the sequel to In Darkest Night!)
1. Chapter 1

((Disclaimer: I do NOT own Code Lyoko or FNAF, that would be MoonScoop and Scott Cawthon respectively))

**In Darkest Night 2: Premonitions**

Chapter 1

Times, it seemed, couldn't have been tougher for the Lyoko gang. Every time, right when another breakthrough was within their sights, X.A.N.A. was always there at the turn, waiting to throw a wrench in the works once again. Just weeks ago, the foursome had narrowly avoided the deletion of the entirety of Lyoko, but at the cost of letting their friend William fall into X.A.N.A.'s clutches. It was a good thing they still had their friend Jeremy to rely on- it was Jeremy, after all, who reprogrammed Lyoko with the help of Aelita and her father, Franz Hopper. But apart from him, with the threat of X.A.N.A. looming larger than ever, it was becoming harder and harder for the group to know who could be trusted- especially for Odd Della Robbia.

Lyoko had taken its toll on Odd- whereas before he had been accustomed to living life in the fast lane, tuning out its hardships, his time on Lyoko had shifted his priorities. As a result, outside of Lyoko he was acutely aware of any potential threat or trace of X.A.N.A., but though he knew of the danger it posed, he simultaneously cherished it- because that meant a one-way ticket to Lyoko, and a chance to use up the energy that his new schedule had forced him to conserve.

And so, as the blond jokester sat down to his lunch and pretended to listen to Jeremy yammer on about upgrades this and supercomputer that, every so often he would glance around the cafeteria, keeping an eye out for specters, or any other sign of X.A.N.A. He knew it would was a pretty pointless gesture- their last X.A.N.A. attack had been only a day ago, so it wasn't likely that the virus would come back for another round so soon. The only specter that caught his eye was William- or, at least, the fake William Jeremy had created to stave off suspicion about the original's disappearance.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Odd gulped down another mouthful of mashed potato before glancing around the room again. Then his eyes landed on the fake William, and froze in horror. Another student had just sat down in front of William, and appeared to be talking to him. This was not good- the gang knew Jeremy had done his best to generate a believable specter with the technology he had. And though the fake William certainly looked convincing enough, his behavioral AI was too buggy to be believable. Every time someone tried to have a conversation with William, one of the Lyoko warriors had to intervene to keep him from exposing himself.

"Psst. Jeremy," Odd whispered, nudging Jeremy with his elbow.

"Odd, I'm trying to explain the upgrades I made to your Lyoko equipment! Weren't you even listening?" asked Jeremy, annoyed.

"Jeremy! _William alert!_" hissed Odd, pointing to the table where William and the other student were sitting.

"Oh no, another one," groaned Jeremy. "Yumi, Odd, can you guys take care of this one?"

Yumi let out an exasperated sigh. More often than not, she was the one that ended up preventing a William incident. All the time she had spent trying to fake a convincing relationship with a polymorphic specter had made her a target of Sissi and her cohorts. At least this time she had Odd with her to ward off a potential Sissi encounter.

"We got it, Einstein!" said Odd, as he took off across the cafeteria, dragging Yumi behind him.

At the far end of the cafeteria, a younger student was attempting to talk to pseudo-William.

"So I was wondering… I mean, I know you're a member of the academy's Business Club, and I heard that members all get cool membership cards," he was saying. "Can I, maybe, see your card?"

"I don't think you can see it from where you're sitting," the fake William replied in an emotionless voice.

"William!" Yumi called out, as she and Odd ran up to him. "I've been looking all over for you. Delmas wants to see you, it's urgent."

"Oh really? Thanks Yumi, you're the best," William said flatly.

Yumi and Odd watched as William stood up from the table and headed out of the cafeteria. "That was a close one," Odd whispered.

"Hey, Odd! How's it going?"

Odd turned to find the student who had been talking to William looking right at him- and instantly he recognized him. It was Mike Schmidt, the American transfer student at Kadic who had taken Odd's place as the night guard at the local Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Of course, that all happened after a X.A.N.A. attack turned the normally cheery pizzeria into a haven for killer, X.A.N.A.-fied animatronic robots.

_Come to think of it_, Odd thought, _Didn't they completely remodel that place the other month? I wonder what it must be like to work there now, at the new and improved Freddy's…_

"Oh hey, Mike!" said Odd. "Try not to get William worked up, he's been kind of a space case since he and Yumi broke up, y'know?"

"Odd!" grumbled Yumi, giving him a blow to the shoulder.

"Ow! Hey, take it easy," Odd moaned, rubbing his arm. "Hey Mike, what's the new Freddy's like?"

"Oh, it's fantastic," said Mike. "Modern décor, Lots of arcade games, state-of-the-art animatronics… Well, most of the time."

Odd raised an eyebrow. "Um… Most of the time?" he asked.

Mike shrugged. "Yeah, overall the new facial recognition features are pretty great. Heck, if the animatronics weren't constantly trying to get into my office in the middle of the night, they'd be perfect!"

Odd froze, remembering how the animatronics from the old location had attempted to kill him…

"They've been trying to get into your office?!" he and Yumi exclaimed at the same time.

"Yeah. It's the weirdest thing," said Mike. "It doesn't happen a lot, but every so often they come wandering by the office, and sometimes they'll stick their head inside. It's like they're trying to say hi or something. I've talked to the management about it a few times. The first time, they just laughed and told me that was impossible, but after the next two or three times, it finally occurred to them that something might be up. They've switched me over to day shift for now, just to be on the safe side."

Odd and Yumi exchanged looks. These strange occurrences at the new Freddy's had X.A.N.A.-attack written all over them.

"Haven't they done anything to try and fix the robots?" asked Yumi in disbelief.

"Not much. The management seems pretty hesitant to admit that their new animatronics aren't working," Mike explained. "Frankly, after all that happened at the old Freddy's, I can't say I blame them."

"Hmmm… Hey, I know!" yelled Odd. "I bet Jeremy could fix those robots up! You know Einstein, he's a total science whiz."

"Odd, don't you think Jeremy's busy enough with… um, _you-know-what?_" Yumi snapped. "He's not gonna want to take time off to clean up a bunch of animal robots!"

"What about me?" Jeremy's voice came from behind Yumi.

Yumi and Odd turned to see Jeremy, along with Ulrich and Aelita, as the three sat down at Mike's table.

"Oh hey, Jeremy," said Mike. "I was just wondering… I mean, Odd said you know a lot about robotics…"

"Yep, sure do," Jeremy replied.

"Oh, good! So, would you mind, maybe, taking a look at these new animatronics over at Freddy's?"

Jeremy's eyes widened. "_Freddy's?_" he exclaimed. Collecting himself, he shot a glance at Odd, as if to ask him the question that was on his mind. Odd silently nodded back.

Jeremy gulped. "Uh, yeah, sure Mike, I'd love to…"

"Awesome! Thanks, man!" said Mike. "Tell you what- since you're helping me out, I'll give all you guys a tour of the place, and show off all the cool new stuff we've got there now. It'll be great!"

Odd, Jeremy and the rest of the gang could only smile and nod, knowing that another long night at Freddy's lay ahead of them…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As Mike was giving Jeremy and Odd their grand tour of the restaurant the next day, complete with a complimentary slice of pizza (much to Odd's gratification), Jeremy was dumbfounded as to how he had managed to end up in this situation. A X.A.N.A. attack at the academy was bad enough for him. But for a no-nonsense, logic-oriented guy like Jeremy, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza was about as close to hell as he was willing to get. And now, after two incidents of erratic behavior surrounding the restaurant's animatronic robots- a sure sign that X.A.N.A. was at it again- Jeremy was left with no choice but to suck up his disgust for this place of silliness and immaturity, and confront it in an effort to put X.A.N.A. back in its place.

Odd, meanwhile, seemed to be having the time of his life. He paid little attention to what Mike had to say about the restaurant as he noshed on his free pizza. Jeremy, on the other hand, listened intently and took into account every detail of the incidents as Mike described them, if only to tune out the laughter of children that echoed throughout the building's halls. _Funnily enough, _he thought, _this doesn't sound like the usual sign of a X.A.N.A. attack. But even if it's not, nobody should let a bunch of malfunctioning robots run around._

The tour eventually worked its way to the Show Stage, where the new-and-improved animatronics could be seen. They weren't running at the moment, as the place was nearing its closing hours.

"Well, here we have our old friends Freddy, Bonnie and Chica!" Mike said enthusiastically. "It's too bad they've been on the fritz lately. Jeremy, can you tell if there's anything wrong with them?"

Jeremy looked the robots up and down. To the restaurant's credit, they really did look more state-of-the-art compared to the junk heaps from the old location- the same ones that had attacked him and his friends. But even still, he knew that if X.A.N.A. was up to no good, even these new models were susceptible to being X.A.N.A.-fied.

"Well, I can't tell just by looking at them," Jeremy explained. "The only way to know is to take them apart and look at their individual components. That shouldn't take me very long, though."

"Hmmm… Well, I'll have to ask Mr. Ferdinand first," said Mike.

"Mr. Ferdinand?" asked Jeremy.

"Yeah, he's the head of our engineering department," explained Mike. "I've already told him about you, though. If you're willing to help us out, there's no way he'll mind at all! Come on, follow me."

Jeremy and Odd glanced at the new restaurant's décor as Mike led them through the Main Hall. "Pretty snazzy," Odd remarked. "You know, Einstein, maybe a job at a place like this would be just what you need to take your mind off things. And just think of all the free pizza!"

Jeremy glared at him. "Odd, why on Earth would I want to work at a place like this?! Besides, there's no taking my mind off things when X.A.N.A.'s afoot. The sooner we can find the cause of whatever is going on here, X.A.N.A. or not, and get out of here, the better."

"Okay, okay!" sighed Odd. "Sheesh, so _this_ is what sitting in front of a computer screen for hours does to you, huh?"

The threesome came to a door labeled "Parts/Service", which Mike knocked. A moment later, a tall, balding man who must have been Mr. Ferdinand opened the door.

"Hello, Mike! I see you brought company with you. Come on in!" he instructed, holding the door open for Jeremy and Odd to enter.

Mr. Ferdinand's office was littered with papers, empty drink containers, and a few spare animatronic parts, including a spare set of empty animatronic heads. As Odd walked in, he glanced at the back room behind the office, and shuddered in fright. The old animatronics- the ones that had attempted to kill him- were sitting in the corner of the room. Even with its face missing, Odd could tell that Bonnie the bunny was looking right at him.

"Uh… Jeremy?" Odd asked uneasily.

"Everything okay, Odd?" asked Jeremy.

Odd glanced at the back room again. Bonnie's head, devoid of facial features, was now looking away from his direction.

Frantically, Odd shook his head. "Yep! I'm good. Just thought for a second I saw… Eh, never mind. I must be seeing things, I guess."

"So, Mike," said Mr. Ferdinand, as Mike, Jeremy and Odd took a seat. "This must be the friend you spoke of, Mr., eh… Campbell, is it?"

"Belpois," Jeremy corrected him. "Jeremy Belpois."

"Ah, yes… my mistake," he apologized. "Well, Jeremy, looking at your records from Kadic Academy, you've established yourself as quite the robotics expert. It's a shame that Freddy Fazbear's Pizza no longer requires your services, or I'd have hired you in a heartbeat!"

"You don't?" Jeremy asked hopefully.

"Not anymore!" Mr. Ferdinand said cheerfully. "We've got this situation all taken care of!"

"So does that mean you've fixed the animatronics?" Mike asked.

"Well, eh… no," Mr. Ferdinand admitted. "But we will have soon enough! I've sent a work request to our experts at our sister location. I expect to hear back from them later tonight. They'll be able to tell us what the problem is, I'm sure of it!"

"So there's nothing Jeremy can do to help?!" Mike protested.

"Not unless he wants to tinker around with those older models in the back room!" chuckled Mr. Ferdinand.

That gave Jeremy an idea. "Actually, Mr. Ferdinand, I'd be more than happy to do just that," he announced.

Mr. Ferdinand seemed taken aback. "You… you would?" he asked, dumbfounded. "Well, I was only joking, but… I suppose I don't see any harm in doing so. Go right ahead, son!"

A moment later, Jeremy and Odd were in the back room, the former peering over Bonnie's missing face.

"So what came over you, Einstein?" Odd asked. "First you say you hate this place, but then you volunteer to work here for free?"

"Oh, believe me, I still do," Jeremy chuckled, as he reached for a Philips-head screwdriver and began tinkering with Bonnie's head unit. "But I had to make sure that this wasn't X.A.N.A.'s doing. Remember how these robots from the old restaurant went haywire when you worked the night shift there? We were never sure if that was an actual X.A.N.A. attack or just a glitch in their programming. But we'll know just as soon as I can get this open…"

However, a few minutes before midnight, Jeremy's progress was interrupted as Mike flung the door open. But something was clearly wrong. Mike didn't look like his usual, cheery self- in fact, he looked as though he had seen a ghost.

"Mr. Ferdinand's on the phone with the tech support guy," said Mike. "But things are getting pretty weird…"

"How so?" asked Jeremy and Odd.

"Well, first he kept insisting that we retrofit these old models with the new technology," Mike explained. "…Come to think of it, we already _did _that last week. Then Mr. Ferdinand brought your name up, and now he, uh… he wants to speak with _you_."

"Me?" cried Jeremy in disbelief. "How could that be?"

Jeremy didn't bother to question Mike for more details. He hurridely put down his tools and rushed back to the office, where Mr. Ferdinand seemed to be on the verge of shouting at his client.

"…For the fifth time, YES, we HAVE already retrofitted the old models… Yes… Yes, ALL of them… I know, I know you want to speak to him, but please, the NEWER models!" he bellowed, before turning to face Jeremy. "Ah, there you are, Mr. Canterbury!" he exclaimed. "It seems as though you have yourself a fan in our sister location's tech support group. Maybe _you _can help us sort this mess out!"

In total disbelief, Jeremy held the receiver to his ear. "…Hello?"

To his horror, William Dunbar's X.A.N.A.-fied voice met his ears.

"Hello, Belpois. Remember me?!"

Jeremy dropped the receiver in shock, and he could hear the alarm on his laptop go off in the back room. "Uh, Mr. Ferdinand, Odd and I have to, uh, go finish our homework. Come on, Odd, let's go!"

"Uh, Jeremy…" whimpered Odd. "I think I'd rather stay in _here_…"

As the clock struck twelve, Jeremy and Odd peered into the darkness, and found a frighteningly familiar foe staring back at them…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jeremy gulped. "It's that creepy fox again!"

Foxy the Pirate, remodeled yet somehow just as terrifying as the original, began to shuffle down the hall to greet them. Even from at the end of the hall, the mark of X.A.N.A. could be seen in its eyes.

"Uh, guys?" Odd whimpered. "Now would be a _really _good time to close the door…"

"There's no doors for us to close, Odd!" exclaimed Mike. "We're trapped in here!"

"What on Earth is going on? What's all this fuss about now?" demanded Mr. Ferdinand.

"The robots are malfunctioning, Mr. F! I _told _you something was wrong with them!" yelled Mike.

"Nonsense!" Mr. Ferdinand chuckled. "There's no way something could be wrong with them! Their facial recognition features are far too state-of-the art! Each animatronic's internal servers are tied in to an extensive criminal database, so they know better than to attack an employee. In fact, we should be paying _them _to guard us!"

"Hate to break it to you, sir, but your new night guards are on their way to kill us!" snapped Jeremy.

"Oh come now, you kids and your wild imaginations. There's nothing wrong! Here, I'll prove it!" And with that, Mr. Ferdinand strode right past Jeremie and Mike and into the hall.

"Mr. F, no!" yelled Mike, but the restaurant's technician didn't acknowledge him as he walked right up to Foxy.

"Ahoy there, Foxy!" Mr. Ferdinand greeted him in a mock pirate voice. "Ye be out lookin' for buried treasure tonight?"

Foxy's response was to hold a hand out to his face. As X.A.N.A.'s mark reappeared in his eyes, a surge of electricity ran through his animatronic hand.

"Uh… F-Foxy?" stammered Mr. Ferdinand.

In one swift motion Foxy seized him by the scruff of the neck and began to choke him as electricity erupted from his body. For a moment he hung in midair, gasping for breath, before he collapsed to the ground along with Foxy, thanks to a swift kick from Odd.

"Working with animal robots all the time must be _shocking_, huh, Mr. F?" remarked Odd.

Mr. Ferdinand didn't answer, but picked himself up and hurriedly retreated to the office, followed by Odd, as Foxy resumed his pursuit.

"Th-this is imp-p-possible," he stammered. "Th-this can't be happening!"

"Guys!" warned Mike. "He's getting closer!"

"We're doomed!" Mr. Ferdinand wailed.

"There's gotta be _something _we can do!" Jeremy insisted.

"What are we supposed to do against F- that- that _thing?_" cried Mr. Ferdinand, afraid to even utter Foxy's name.

"You know the robots from the inside out!" Jeremy snapped. "Isn't there any kind of glitch we can exploit to stop them?"

"A-Absolutely not!" Mr. Ferdinand snapped. "Those robots were designed to be state of the art, technically-perfect-"

"Will you just admit that they're _broken?_" yelled Mike. "They wouldn't be trying to kill us if you would've just swallowed your pride and fixed them in the first place!"

Mr. Ferdinand froze, taken aback by Mike's response. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you!" he cried hastily. "The sensors in the animatronics' cameras are faulty! If you were to, say, shine bright lights at them, you could maybe disorient them long enough to subdue them!"

"Well, where are we going to find a light?" asked Jeremy.

Mr. Ferdinand began frantically rummaging through his desk, before withdrawing a flashlight. "Here, use this!" he exclaimed.

Jeremy aimed the light at Foxy and began frantically hammering the button. Foxy's entire body began to surge with electricity, ripping off parts of his animatronic costume and exposing the endoskeleton within. After enough flashes to his face, Foxy's LED eyes shattered, and his body collapsed to the ground.

"Yes!" cheered Odd. "Looks like it's animatronic season!"

"Don't celebrate yet, Odd," Jeremy reminded him. "We have to warn the others! X.A.N.A.'s activated a tower somewhere! Now, where did I leave my computer?"

Jeremy's question was soon answered for him- he spotted it in the back room down the hall. And it wasn't the only machine in there…

"Wait up, Einstein!" called Odd as Jeremy took off down the hall, swiping it out of Bonnie's reach.

The animatronic rabbit, still missing its face, lunged at Jeremie, but another kick from Odd sent him crashing to the ground, severing what remained of its head unit.

"You and your robot animals don't scare _me _anymore, X.A.N.A.!" Odd taunted.

"Odd, keep it down!" hissed Jeremy. "This place is probably crawling with them. If they hear you, they're all gonna come after us!"

Once they were back in the office, Jeremy opened his laptop, and an activated tower flashed on-screen.

"Whoop de doo, another tower to deactivate," sighed Odd. "We just can't catch a break!"

"This isn't any ordinary tower, Odd…" Jeremy gasped. "It's a Replika! But the signal is unusually strong… That means the supercomputer that powers it must be somewhat close by!"

"Oh, what a relief," grumbled Odd. "I'm so glad I know that now that X.A.N.A.'s right about to kill us!"

"What is this X.A.N.A. you two keep talking about, anyway?" demanded Mr. Ferdinand.

"It's a sentient computer virus that takes control of robots," Jeremy answered. "Odd, my friends and I have fought it a bunch of times in the past."

"Jeremy! We're not supposed to tell anyone our secret!" "Relax, Odd," Jeremy answered, winking at him. "He won't remember a thing when this is all over."

"I-I won't?" stammered Mr. Ferdinand. "…Are you kids affiliated with the government or something?"

"Long story," said Jeremy as he plunged his hand in his pocket and pulled out his phone, hastily dialing Aelita's number.

"Aelita! Can you hear me?" he asked.

"Jeremy?" answered Aelita. "What's going on? You and Odd have been gone a long time! The others are getting worried about you!"

"Oh good, you're all there!" Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief. "Listen, somewhere in the digital sea, there's a Replika with an activated tower! Get to the Skid and destroy it, fast! I'll get to the factory as soon as I can, but Odd and I are surrounded by X.A.N.A.-fied animatronics again! It might take a while!"

"Oh great, more killer robots," groaned Ulrich.

"Sounds like we better get moving," said Yumi. "Let's go!"

…

Fifteen minutes later, Jeremy's phone rang. "Jeremy? It's Aelita. We've made it to the hangar; we're waiting for energization."

"Really? That was fast!" said Jeremy. "Okay, Energize!" With a flash of white, Aelita, Ulrich and Yumi were teleported into the Skidbladnir, Aelita at its helm.

"I'm sending you the coordinates of the Replika," Jeremy told her. "Find it, get inside and destroy it!"

"Got it!" she replied.

"Jeremy!" warned Odd, as the vent behind him began to rattle.

Jeremy turned around in horror, as Bonnie- in his new-and-improved form- ripped the cover off of the office's right vent and lunged for him. Reacting quickly, he withdrew his flashlight and aimed it square at Bonnie's eyes, hammering the button. Bonnie's LED eyes cracked, and his body twitched and flickered before falling to the floor, just as Foxy's had done.

"Nice reflexes, Einstein! You're not just quick with technology, you're quick on the draw, too!" complimented Odd.

"Yeah… that was a close one," he answered, before he turned and spotted Mike and Mr. Ferdinand's dumbstruck faces.

"Like I said, you won't remember a thing," said Jeremy.

"Jeremy? You there?" came Aelita's voice from Jeremy's phone.

"What is it, Aelita?" he asked.

"We've found the Replika, but it's sealed off! Can you enter the passcode from your laptop?"

"I don't know," said Jeremy, scratching his head. "I've never done it before, but I guess I'll have to try!"

Jeremy pulled out his laptop and began frantically typing. "I got it!" he announced at last.

Within the digital sea, the gate to the Replika retracted, allowing the Skidbladnir to enter.

"What kind of Replika d'you think we've found this time?" Ulrich asked Yumi. "The Forest Sector again?"

"Probably the Ice Sector. We haven't seen that one yet," Yumi answered.

But as the Skid surfaced, their question was answered for them: it was a Replika of the Mountain Sector.

"There's a tower not far from your current location," Jeremy announced. "I'll activate it for you. Once you dock, Yumi will stay behind to protect the Skid. Aelita, Ulrich, you two destroy the supercomputer. You got it?"

"Roger!" all three Lyoko warriors answered.

Sure enough, there was a tower not far from the entrance to the Replika, and it flashed green as it came into Aelita's line of sight, allowing her to dock there. Within moments, the Skid was secured.

"Ulrich, are you ready for materialization?" asked Aelita.

"Ready when you are," answered Ulrich.

Jeremy entered a command on his laptop, and Aelita and Ulrich materialized at the source of the Replika. The Skid had transported them to a dark room with the look of a large warehouse.

"We're here, Jeremy!" Aelita announced as she summoned an Energy Field, illuminating the room. "But there doesn't seem to be any sign of X.A.N.A., or anybody for that matter…"

"Aelita… I don't think we're alone in here…" said Ulrich.

It was only then that the two warriors noticed the vast array of deactivated robots that lined the walls of the warehouse, as well as the logo of the company it belonged to.

"Hey Jeremy!" Ulrich called. "You'll never guess where we are!"

"I'm checking your location on the computer. Hang on!" Jeremy told them as he searched for their global position on his laptop's GPS. He read the name of their location, and gasped as the words _Fazbear Entertainment World Headquarters _left his lips…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jeremy was stunned. "The Replika's supercomputer… it's in Freddy's?!"

"It is?" asked Odd, equally nonplussed. "That'd explain a lot."

"A supercomputer?! What is Fazbear Entertainment doing with a supercomputer?" Mike asked Mr. Ferdinand.

"I… I can't say I know," he answered. "The company must've started to micromanage manufacturing of the animatronics. But I never would have guessed they were so defective…"

"Really!" Jeremy grumbled. "Because I could have told you that much when I was five!"

A beep from Jeremy's laptop caught his attention. "Oh no!" Jeremy moaned as he pulled up the Lyoko interface. "Yumi, can you hear me?"

"I read you, Jeremy," answered Yumi's voice.

"X.A.N.A.'s sending some nasty surprises your way," warned Jeremy. "Be on your toes!"

Yumi peered down the long straightaway directly in front of the tower. Sure enough, a trio of Tarantulas was advancing in her direction. But they weren't alone- flying high above them, perched upon a Manta, was her X.A.N.A.-possessed classmate.

"That's not all he's sent, Jeremy! William's here!" Yumi hissed. "I don't think I'll be able to protect the Skid on my own! Tell Ulrich and Aelita to hurry up!"

"Will do. I'm- ACK!" Jeremy began, before a sudden flash of white knocked him flat on his back. Once he got up off the ground he spied his earpiece, dangling from the ceiling by a pair of gnarled metal claws. Their owner stared Jeremy down with a pair of LED eyes and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.

"What in the world is that?!" Jeremy demanded.

"Oh dear, Mr. Dickens, I'm afraid even our new models are malfunctioning now!" Mr. Ferdinand wailed. "Not you too, Toy Foxy!"

"Oh great, it's _him_," Mike groaned. "We put him in Kid's Cove to keep the toddlers upbeat. Thing is… the toddlers ended up keeping _him_ beat up. Ever since we gave up trying to reassemble him he's been nothing but a pile of parts. Me and my buddies in Security came up with our own nickname for him: the Mangle."

"The Mangle," repeated Odd. "Very fitting. Not creepy at all."

"Jeremy? Hello?" Yumi's voice could just be heard wafting from the ceiling.

"Yumi! I've lost my earpiece! Just give me a little more time!" Jeremy yelled desperately toward the ceiling, hoping against hope she could actually hear him.

"Jeremy! Are you there? Answer me!" Yumi yelled, before a laser blast from an approaching Tarantula diverted her attention back to the advancing William.

"Looks like I'm on my own," Yumi groaned, brandishing her Tessen Fans. "Alright William, you want a fight? You got one!"

…

In disbelief, Aelita and Ulrich took in the sight of the warehouse. The animatronics that had been designed to delight children were now outfitted for a much different purpose under X.A.N.A.'s control.

"It seems quiet," Aelita whispered. "The robots don't seem to be active at the moment."

"Yeah, well let's hope they stay that way," said Ulrich. "We still have a supercomputer to trash. Now, where could it be?"

A sudden surge of electricity near the factory ceiling caught Aelita's attention. "Ulrich," she answered, pointing, "…I think it's right over our heads!"

Ulrich looked up. High above them, jutting out of the factory wall, was a small cubicle surrounded by glass windows, with what could only have been the supercomputer inside. The only entrance to the room was through a large spiral staircase.

Inquisitively, Aelita took a single step up the stairs- and froze, horrified, as the room was suddenly illuminated from the electrical surges of a hundred animatronic robots. A hundred and counting.

For a moment, Aelita was rooted to the spot, paralyzed with fear, as she remembered her own horrific experience at the original Freddy's. Then Ulrich's shouts of "Come on, Aelita! Hurry!" brought her back to reality, and she scrambled up the staircase, followed closely by Ulrich- and an army of newly activated X.A.N.A.-fied robots.

Before they could reach the top, however, the ground beneath them began to shake. "What's happening?" Aelita cried.

Ulrich peered down and saw, to his horror, that the robots had begun tugging at the bottom of the staircase, prying it loose from the ground. "They're trying to uproot us!" he yelled. "We gotta move!"

In a panic, the pair of Lyoko Warriors hurried upwards. But before they could reach the top platform, the X.A.N.A.-tronics wrenched the staircase free, and it began to descend. Screaming, Ulrich and Aelita leapt from the stairs and crashed to the factory floor, where a horde of killer robots was waiting for them.

Slowly, Aelita got to her feet. "Are you alright, Ulrich?"

Ulrich stood up, dusting himself off. "I was just fine until I fell off a spiral staircase," he grumbled. "OK, Princess, we've got work to do."

Swords and Energy Fields in hand, the duo prepared for battle…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Yumi was accustomed to acting under pressure- this certainly wasn't the first time she had had to fight William, nor would it be the last if X.A.N.A. had anything to say about it. But the situation seemed completely different, now that she was on her own, without even Jeremy to help direct her in battle. Still, that could only mean he must have been in trouble, and that he and the rest of the Lyoko Warriors were all counting on her. So, face to face with William, she withdrew her tessen fans and braced for attack.

"For X.A.N.A.!" William exclaimed, raising his zweihander skyward. On his command, the three Tarantulas accompanying him began firing in Yumi's direction.

Yumi was ready: with a swipe of her fans, she reflected their lasers back at them, destroying one of them in the process. But the two remaining Tarantulas were closing in quickly, and with no one to back her up, she was left with no choice but to retreat. Hurriedly she leapt behind a nearby rock, hurling her fans behind her. By some stroke of luck, one of them struck the Manta William was standing on, and it exploded, sending him plummeting to the ground.

Enraged, William picked himself up before spotting Yumi, and with a cry of "Super Smoke!" he dissolved into a trail of darkness headed in the girl's direction. Yumi gasped as she turned to find herself facing William standing right in front of her, weapon drawn.

"Nice to see you again, Yumi…"

…

"What are we supposed to do now?!" yelled Odd.

"Just give me a second," Jeremy grumbled. "I'm trying to find Aelita and Ulrich on the radar!"

"Maybe if you stopped playing video games and actually bothered helping us out, Jeremy, we could get out of this a lot easier!" Mike snapped.

"Yeah? And maybe if you care to live you won't question what I'm trying to do right now!" Jeremy hissed.

"Come now, Mike, let Mr. Edinburgh do his thing," Mr. Ferdinand agreed, his voice cracking with hysteria. "Because I don't want to die…"

"I got it!" Jeremy announced at last. His moment of triumph, however, was short-lived. "Uh-oh…"

"What? What is it?" asked Odd.

Jeremy gulped. "From the looks of things, they've got an even bigger robot problem than we do!"

"Yeah, well ours is pretty bad as it is," Odd groaned. "We gotta get your earpiece back!"

"That animatronic doesn't seem to be affected by the flashlight, though…" said Jeremy. "What can we- ACK!"

In a flash, Mangle had descended from the ceiling, still clutching Jeremy's earpiece in its fangs, and seized hold of him, attempting to suffocate him. Not a second later, Odd had leapt high into the air like a gymnast and socked Mangle hard, ripping its head unit clean off. Odd landed gracefully, while Jeremy and what remained of Mangle tumbled to the ground with a thud.

"Thanks for the save, Odd," said Jeremy as Odd helped him back to his feet.

"I try, Einstein," remarked Odd.

In an instant, Jeremy yanked his earpiece free of Mangle's detached head unit and flung it on his head. "Aelita? Ulrich? You guys still there?"

"Jeremy!" came Aelita's voice. "Are you alright? We were getting so worried!"

"Well, don't worry about me," Jeremy answered. "From the looks of things you guys have quite the robot problem on your hands!"

"You don't say!" growled Ulrich. "None of our attacks can make a dent in these things! We're running out of life points over here!"

"Hey Jeremy," interjected Odd. "If the flashlight worked against these animatronics, wouldn't it work against whatever Aelita and Ulrich are fighting too?"

"You're right! Great thinking, Odd!" exclaimed Jeremy. "Okay, guys, you need to find some way to flash them with bright light! That should take them out!"

"Thanks for the tip, Einstein, but where are we going to find bright light in a deserted warehouse?!" spat Ulrich.

"I don't know! You'll just have to improvise!" yelled Jeremy frantically. "Hang on, I'm checking up on Yumi right now!"

…

"Bright light, huh? What are we supposed to do about that?" Ulrich grumbled, as his katana collided with the metal arms of an animatronic endoskeleton.

Instinctively, Aelita took aim with an Energy Field, striking the robot before it could come any closer to Ulrich. Then, as if curious, she summoned another Energy Field, and held it aloft, examining it. The orb of energy cast a faint glow on the walls of the warehouse.

"That's it!" she yelled. "Ulrich, I know what to do!"

"I'm all ears," answered Ulrich.

"Okay, when I give you the signal, run in a circle around me with your Super Sprint! Don't stop until I say so!"

"But what if that doesn't-"

"Trust me, just do it!" she snapped.

Ulrich sighed- you never knew with Aelita's ideas, but their regular means of fighting didn't seem to be working either. He crouched down on the ground, ready to sprint, as the X.A.N.A.-tronics began closing in on them again.

"Ready… GO!"

Ulrich leapt to his feet, and the moment he began his Super Sprint Aelita created an Energy Field, holding it high above her. The light it gave off was intensified by the spinning blur surrounding her, throwing vivid streams of light in all directions. Using Ulrich's Super Sprint, Aelita had turned one of her Energy Fields into a makeshift strobe light.

It had the desired effect: instantly, the waves of advancing robots began to drop like flies, their smouldering endoskeletons flickering with electricity. Wave after wave the robots collapsed, until the warehouse had been cleared of its infestation.

"Stop!" Aelita yelled, her voice barely audible over the rushing sound of Ulrich's sprint.

Finding himself unable to rid himself of his inertia on his own, Ulrich charged up a nearby wall and leapt back down to Aelita's side.

"Wow… that was some idea, Princess," said Ulrich as he took in the sight of their handiwork.

"I knew it would work!" she exclaimed happily. "Now let's bust that supercomputer and get out of here!"

"Leave it to me!" Ulrich answered, charging back up the wall and to the cubicle where the warehouse's computer laid waiting for him.

…

The last thing Yumi needed, during the heated fight with William that was currently underway, was a distraction. Unfortunately for her, Jeremy had decided to make his triumphant return then and there.

"Yumi! Are you alright? What's going on in Lyoko?"

"Ugh… Jeremy, where have you been?!" Yumi yelled as she narrowly dodged a swipe of William's sword.

"Sorry… we had a slight complication-"

"Hyaaah!" screamed Yumi, launching her fans at William, who easily deflected them. "Look, Jeremy, now is not the time, okay? William means business today!"

"Well, whatever you do, make sure he doesn't reach the Skid!" Jeremy answered. "If it gets destroyed, we'll lose Ulrich and Aelita!"

"Right… the Skid," muttered Yumi, glancing back at the submersible behind her. "Don't worry, Jeremy, I'm on it- ARGH!"

Yumi's attention snapped back to William's zweihander- as it produced a hole in her chest. "Oh no!" she screamed, helpless to watch as William resumed his advance towards the Skid, leaving her to devirtualize. A moment later, she tumbled out of the scanner, winded.

Then the Skid began to move, breaking free of its connection to the tower, and William's triumph turned immediately to rage at the sight of its passengers pulling away.

"You know, what, William? I think it's time X.A.N.A. let you take the day off," retorted Ulrich as he and Aelita sped away, leaving the Mountain Replika behind them to dissolve into nothing.

…

"Oh no!" Jeremy cried out. "William just devirtualized Yumi!"

"That's not the only problem on our hands, Einstein!" warned Odd. "Looks like Fuzzy Lumpkins came back for revenge!"

Jeremy, Mike, and Mr. Ferdinand glanced down the hall, horrified, and found the face of Freddy Fazbear looking back at them.

"All right, Freddy, let's see how you like… _this_!" yelled Jeremy, pointing the flashlight square at Freddy's face. But nothing happened: no matter how hard he hammered the button, no light would turn on.

Jeremy dropped the flashlight, too horrified to even speak. _Of all the times the batteries could have run out, it _had _to be now…_

Then, as the foursome braced themselves for the inevitable, the clock struck 6 A.M… and Freddy's flickering body fell to the ground.

"Replika destroyed, Jeremy!" Aelita's voice came from his earpiece. "Another one down!"

Breathing a massive sigh of relief, Jeremy threw his earpiece back on. "Way to go guys! Yumi, are you okay?"

"I'm here, Jeremy!" answered Yumi. "I've got a return to the past ready for you. Just say when!"

"Wait!" exclaimed Mr. Ferdinand, hurrying to Jeremy. "Before you launch this time program thing of yours, son, I'd like you to have _this_… for, uh, your service to our establishment and all that."

The restaurant owner handed Jeremy a slip of paper. It was a check for $100, personalized with the smiling face of Freddy Fazbear. On it was written the name: _Jeremy Fitzgerald._

"Eh… thanks," Jeremy replied, wincing. "…But it's _Belpois_, not Fitzgerald. Okay, Yumi, hit it!"

"Wait, what exactly is about to happen here?" started Mike.

"Don't worry!" Jeremy answered, as a wall of light engulfed the restaurant. "Like I said- you guys won't remember a thing!"

And yet, as the immense wall of light swallowed up the pizzeria, the factory, and all else in its path, a voice, inhuman yet not quite mechanical, could just barely be made out from over the commotion.

_I am still here…_


End file.
